On Tuesday, 17 November 2015, an agreement was signed between KWR (Watercycle Research Institute, The Netherlands) and the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa at a ceremony held at the Dutch Trade Mission in Johannesburg.

The agreement was signed in the presence of several South African Ministers including the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane and the Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Mark Rutte. Dr Wim van Vierssen, KWR CEO, and Mr Dhesigen Naidoo, WRC CEO, sealed the agreement.

KWR is the initiator and coordinator of Watershare, an international collaboration model for research centres focusing on applied research in the urban water cycle. The newly-forged partnership with KWR grants the WRC membership to the Watershare programme. Watershare is a family of trusted publicly-financed institutes sharing knowledge and experiences in the global water sector.

“Both these knowledge institutions will from now on conduct joint research applying different tools from the Watershare platform”, said Van Vierssen during the ceremony.

This agreement comes after many years of WRC and KWR working together. The WRC becomes the fifteenth official member of Watershare.

Watershare tools are designed for areas like water quality and health, sustainability, water technology, asset design and management, and water systems. KWR will therefore assist the WRC in extending its understanding on specific topics included in the Watershare suite.

Naidoo said, “Through the collaboration in Watershare, the WRC is in a position to better serve its end-user clients such as water companies, utilities, municipalities and waterboards – so that these, in turn, can effectively meet the water needs of the people in South Africa”.